Snider-man

Hey gang, Got another classic game/computer meeting happening in the Cleveland area in two weeks. Lots to do, lots to see, and plenty of tables availble for vendors and collectors (only $5 too!) Here's the link. Hope to see ya there! The Classic Computer and Gaming Show! - May 25th And, for what it's worth: Two CCAG special releases planned [ 05-09-2002: Message edited by: Snider-man ]

Normally, I'd do this myself, but I have no time. So, I'll toss this idea out to the folks here who have a passable art ability. When I go to the video game store, I see the new Spider-Man movie games sitting in a row. PS2 version, Xbox version, Gamecube version. My quest is to design a Parker Brothers Atari 2600 Spider-Man label using the logo and box art from this new release. (I have a spare Spider-Man cart to paste it on and it'd be a cool conversation piece.) If anyone wants to cobble it together, I'd appreciate it. Else, I'll do it myself later this week.

Hozer has a simple philosophy. It's described on his site someplace... - All homebrews usually have a label of some sort, either designed by the game's author or just a simple screenshot with the game name if not. - Copies of protos and regularly released games do NOT come with a label. Gotta make those yourself. Look through his site. You'll see which ones have labels and which ones don't. For example, I got Gunfight with a cool custom label. I also got Halloween, which I made a label for myself (different from the commercial release).

quote Wow. The Atari/Colecovision/Intellivision arguments of the 80s meets the PS2/Xbox/Gamecube arguments of today. "Atari RuLeZ! Vectrex DrOoLZ!" Sheesh. Whatever guys. As my pop used to say, "You can't argue with someone who's right." No sense in giving these RGVC dolts even more ammo. I'm dropping out until this dies back into oblivion....again. Sorry you have to go through this again, Manuel. On the bright side, the Futurama heat seems to have been taken off of me! [ 05-08-2002: Message edited by: Snider-man ]

Pickings are now *very* slim at thrift stores like Salvation Army, but the carts used to flow like wine several years ago. I once walked out of a SA with TWO working 2600 jrs with all cables and a box filled with carts. All for $25. I used to be able to get carts *each* time I went thrifting - and usually I'd get at least one item my collection didn't have. Carts like Tapper, Survival Run, and even the Avalon Hill stuff came from the thrifts. Now, I'm lucky if I come across an old forgotten Combat tucked amongst the 8-track tapes.

I stayed at the Plaza. The rooms were clean and quiet, but you could tell this place has been around since the early days of Vegas. The lobby and hallways reek of cigarette smoke, though the rooms are very nice. Expect the same kind of accomodations as you would a middle-class Holiday Inn. I wasn't dissappointed, but I have very low standards.

I stayed at the Plaza. The rooms were clean and quiet, but you could tell this place has been around since the early days of Vegas. The lobby and hallways reek of cigarette smoke, though the rooms are very nice. Expect the same kind of accomodations as you would a middle-class Holiday Inn. I wasn't dissappointed, but I have very low standards.

You know what makes me mad? When I can't run my CD-Rs on my mod-chipped PSX. I say we boycott Sony as well. How dare they deny me my access to free games...Er...I mean, I'm just playtesting these games to see if I want to buy them. Yeah, that's it.

quote No problem. I may be a hacker/fledgling programmer, but I know who's who and what's what. This guy just doesn't appreciate anything the programmers may provide. He wants it all. It's the same story everytime a new prototype appears. People start clamoring for the ROM dump rather than offering to pay for a copy of the cart. quote They want it for *free* and damn you for not providing it! My post to them hasn't shown up yet, but I asked him what video game store he frequents that lets him open the package and fully play and test the game before he buys. "They must go through a ton of shrinkwrap everytime you come in the store," I remember writing. Oh yeah, and I bought a copy of Gunfight some time ago. Enjoy the fiver! [ 05-07-2002: Message edited by: Snider-man ]

His argument is that he can't play it on the Cuttlecart or Supercharger because of the copy protection. So he wants us to boycott a game he had no intention of ever buying anyway. "I made this dub of a video. However, the dub doesn't work on my Betamax. Therefore, please boycott Sony Pictures because they're keeping me from enjoying their products for free." What a loser idiot.

Some guys over on RGVC want to boycott Gunfight because they're not happy it's copy protected. Cry me a river. I fired a salvo back. If ya want to join in the fun, here's the Google link, else use your newsgroup reader: Gunfight and Copy protection Sic 'em or agree with 'em. Whatever. [ 05-07-2002: Message edited by: Snider-man ]

quote And, once again, Thomas beats me to a corrective post.

Well since Hozer sells nearly all the recent homebrewed stuff, a bucketload of hacked items, and copies of nearly all 4K and 8K original games ever produced - including many prototypes and "lost" games - you might want to just choose any 3 games ever released for the Atari. Randy's got it all. If you're asking which homebrews (what Randy is primarily known for), all of 'em are great. Each one of the Xype items are must-owns; SCSIcide is a fast, fun game; I love the simple pleasures of topping my last score in Pressure Guage; This Planet Sucks is good; they are all fun, fun, polished stuff. Personally, I have many of the homebrews, all of my own hacks, and copies of games I would *never* hope to see in the wild - Swordfight, Halloween, Texas Chaisaw Massacre, etc.

I'm not gonna go into "why," but here are my top ten as judged by which carts I drag out and plug in most often.... 10. Haunted House 9. Oink 8. Crypts of Chaos 7. Vault Assault 6. Turmoil 5. Dragonstomper 4. Thrust 3. SCSIcide 2. Entombed 1. Adventure

Whoof. That's embarrassing. Thanks for the kind words, but do NOT call me a programmer...at least not yet and not for the Atari 2600. I think I'm an above-average sprite-changer and I can work up some interesting storylines, but that's all as far as what I've released. It's really not fair to the others to lump me in there with "legit" 2600 programmers. I'm doing nothing more than playing around with the hard work of others...and I realize that. I'm proud of what I've put out there, but they are not original coding efforts. I have always said as such. Please don't make that mistake. That said, I have to give kudos to the guys who really showed us - originally - what the 2600 was capable of. My hat is off to David Crane and Howard Scott Warshaw. They both put together some remarkable stuff and pushed the 2600 to its limits. And as for the modern homebrew era, I admire anyone who managed to put together some code that works. And, if the gameplay is awesome, that's a bonus. Thomas, Manuel, Joe, Brian, John, and all the rest of you who have kept the games alive - I salute you. Thanks for the efforts and the inspiration to folks like myself who hope to one day join you as a "legit" 2600 coder. [ 05-03-2002: Message edited by: Snider-man ]

quote Er...ummm...thank you? (Was I too subtle with my earlier comment?)

quote Read this whole thread from the beginning, Junie. The answers are there. Primarily, "No."

Actually, it was pretty damn funny and spot-on.

So where were you and Miss Cleo when I needed you?

I have the title "Futurama" appearing on the screen during the game. Changing it would mean a new burn of ROMs - a cost I can't afford. As said before, this is dead, done, buried.

quote Actually, it's a warning to not use copyrighted cartoon characters that are still a viable franchise owned by a major television/movie/media conglomerate. I daresay I wouldn't have had any problems if it'd been Tennessee Tuxedo, Tom Terrific, Super Chicken or Davy and Goliath.

Thanks for the kind words, but don't admire me too much. After all, this game was a hack using copyrighted characters. In the eyes of many, it was double-dipping in the "creative-borrowing" well. Why doesn't P. Diddy get busted when *he* "samples?"

Actually, they can. The ROM image was specifically mentioned in the letter. The ROM has copyrighted characters. This issue is dead. Gone. Buried.

quote *Absolutely.* I wanted to get this project out of the way so I could re-focus on that. quote Ugh. No way. There are a zillion zombie movies, so everything's cool. Though I think I'll re-name it "The Evil Dead" or "Resident Evil." Think there'd be a problem? Are those taken?

I agree, the letter is a bit too "vague" - it's missing a contact name, phone number, used a box number and not a street address, etc. Lots of red flags. On the other hand, the e-mail address this came from was a legit Consumer Products address from fox.com. I have no reason to doubt this would be difficult to fake. Regardless, it's not worth the effort. Besides, there are *two* strikes here. One, using the name and characters from Futurama without permission. Two, it's a hack anyway, so there's THAT muddled mess of legalities. I'd rather just drop it. I posted this message over on Digital Press. I'll paste it here too: Look, I don't want to drag this out. It was a Futurama "fan-thing." Wasn't meant to be a mass-production or competition for Fox or whatever. I like the show, I like Atari, I combined the two, and I got my **** knocked into the dirt for it. Live and learn. Ironic though: Fox treats the show like crap, gives it the worst timeslot imaginable, doesn't promote it at all, pre-empts it for each and every football game that's on, and all but cancels it when they don't order new episodes for the coming season. But appear like you're about to tread on their "intellectual rights, and the lawyers descend like vultures. Incredible. Anyway, the matter is closed. The game is gone. The web site's closed. End of story. Crap. [ 05-02-2002: Message edited by: Snider-man ]